Decoying and floaters in a strongish wind???

[pigglet]

I'm just starting to get more seriousley into decoying and have had a few days out in relatively light winds over that last week. I set out the deeks in a horseshoe and put my floaters further out on each side of the pattern.

 

The floaters looked really good, gently bobbing and flaring and everything that flew over came into my pattern, a really satisfying feeling (espe4cially whaen about 50 all came in at once!)

 

Yesterday the wind was a fair bit stronger, I set out as before but the floaters were leaping around all over, wings bending, veering from side to side and diving quite erratically. They did not look natural and although a couple of birds flew over and seemed to check us out, nothing came into the pattern.

 

On breezier days are the floaters best left out of the pattern? I got some eezzy wobblers which gave the deeks a bit more movement so should these suffice?

 

I would just like something to make the pattern more visible/attractive from further afield.

 

I got one of those stealth nets too with the mesh on the inside, it's much lighter than my army surplus net but doesnt seem to work as well as I could see into it easier than the army one when out at the deeks. No such thing as a free lunch???

 

Any tips greatly appreciated

Edited March 23, 2010 by pigglet

[Cranfield]

When it gets very breezy, I angle the floaters and bouncers so they are closer to the ground, this does help.

However, there will be days when its too windy for them and even the rotary, thats when they stay in the hide.

 

I have some eezy wobblers, but prefer spring sticks on my decoys.

You can adjust the length of the spring on the peg (by screwing it up or down) to affect the amount of movement in the decoy.

When its very windy and you reduce the length of the spring, this slows down the movement and vice versa.

I have also taken the spring fitting off some standard pegs and put them on longer lengths of dowel for when the crops get a bit higher, or I want them to stand out more.

 

There have been quite a few "stealth net" topics on the Pigeon Equipment section, do a Search there and you will see them.

[pigglet]

Thanks for that Cranfield, I did angle the rods down but to no avail, I guess it was just too gusty.

 

I have some solid pegs for the deeks but thought i'd try the eezy's for more movement, they do seem a bit flimsy though. I might just order some spring sticks as well for what they cost.

 

 

I'll do a search regarding the net. I suppose I should of done that before I bought

[UKPoacher]

I had the same problem. In the end I took the inner rod out and stuck that well into the ground at an angle so the floaters were about 6" off the ground. That allowed them to float with out going over.

[pigglet]

I had the same problem. In the end I took the inner rod out and stuck that well into the ground at an angle so the floaters were about 6" off the ground. That allowed them to float with out going over.

 

 

Ah, I didn't angle them that much, mine were still about 3ft off the ground.

 

Regarding the net it sounds like the sillouete issue is fairly common. I'll stick with the ex army net and keep the stealth as a back up/roof net.

[UKPoacher]

Most lightweight nets suffer from the same problems when there is no solid background and especially when the light is behind you. If your hide is against a hedge just stuff some bracken or other dead stuff you find lying around in the field into the hedge . In a month or two it will fill up with leaf cover anyway.

 

Where I shoot one of the farmers runs a timber business and also grows willow for fuel. I have helped myself to some willow and planted them in a box shape so that they will root. As they are they form the outline of a hide and so I have also helped myself to some coniferous offcuts from the dump and used them to make the hide solid. Eventually the willow will grow and form a permenant natural hide. You can do the same with hazel and fill in with ivy planted into the ground so that it grows. Another option where there are double hedgerows is to cut into the middle so that you can sit between the two rows and shoot through gaps you have created.

 

These natural hides take about an hour to create and save many hours and much money in your not having to buy, carry and erect mesh screen hides. You can situate them near the flight lines where pigeons congregate then flag off the other areas.

[hawkeye]

I use 2 stealth nets the first one is fairly tight on the poles the outer one i just let sag so it leaver windows to see from and this thickens the bottom of the net up so you cannot see through.. even using 2 its still lighter than army nets..

As for shell decoys on spring sticks last Friday i was on a newly drilled bean field set up on top of a hill with good cover from behind me and the wind was right to left it was so strong it was blowing the decoys off the sticks and they were flying across the field..

[blackthorn]

used stealth nets for a couple of years now with no problems, normally roof and back the hide

there's a picture of the hide in sporting pictures for ya

[pigglet]

used stealth nets for a couple of years now with no problems, normally roof and back the hide

there's a picture of the hide in sporting pictures for ya

 

Cheers for that, nice roomy looking hide.

The guy ropes look a good idea, when I tried to put my army net over the stealth hide as a roof the poles looked a bit *******

[blackthorn]

Cheers for that, nice roomy looking hide.

The guy ropes look a good idea, when I tried to put my army net over the stealth hide as a roof the poles looked a bit *******

use six poles, block of four with one out front, the first two poles span the sixth pole between them and drape your roof of that